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In 2007 the bottom began to noticeably fall out of the real estate market and in 2008 the stock market crumbled taking the futures of hardworking American families. From that to 2009 the country has slid into a full blown recession and some of the highest unemployment numbers in 30 years. As we all know, recession is a word everyone refuses to say and hates to hear it even more.

With the recession thousands of jobs were lost, millions of hard working families have gone into foreclosure, retirees lost their entire life’s savings and across the country we saw more and more “Going out of business” signs hanging on businesses that have faithfully supported many communities for years. We, as a country have been left wondering what was going to happen next. We watched the news day after day to hear that the government was giving “TARP” and “bail out” money to “big banks”.

But where is the bail out for those that have sacrificed and poured their sweat, blood and tears into building a comfortable future?

Here we are in 2014 and things are not much better! Where is the bail out for those that are working double time to keep up with the rising pain at the pump, 50% utility hikes, ever shrinking funds for ever increasing grocery costs and un-affordable healthcare expenses?

Here is the opportunity to bail ourselves out! It’s time for OUR change!

On your Big Day, your Wedding Day, (or other special occasion) you should not have any disruptions that take you away from enjoying yourself, your future spouse, your family and friends. With this thought in mind I have a few suggestions to help make your Day a much more enjoyable experience.

First Suggestion – Put Someone Else In Charge (The Step-In)

I realize this can be a difficult suggestion to follow for some people but please trust that it will make a world of difference to have someone else in charge for a short amount of time. Now, to insure that this is a positive difference, this person is not just someone attending the wedding or your second cousin twice removed who really wants to help, this person is someone you trust to make decisions, they know you, your likes and dislikes and they understand when you would say yes or no. Remember they are there to help so try to pick someone you get along with and can effectively deal with other people and possible difficult situations. Their job is to take care of any situations that may arise on your Wedding day, situations that the Wedding Planner, Caterer, or Hotel Manager might ask you about are now handled by your Step-In. It has to be understood that the Step-In now speaks for you and what they say goes. You should not hear about any problems till after the wedding, preferably after the honeymoon or longer if you can take not knowing. Here’s the bottom line, things happen, people bring an extra guest, did not tell you they are now vegetarian for some unexplained reason or the they can’t sit next to Aunt Anne because it “may start something”. Remember whatever the problem the Step-In can take care of it and you can hear about it later – Enjoy Your Day (and remember to give a big Thank You to your Step-In)…

If you read our post ‘What is Event Planning?’ you now have an idea of what an event is and a short list of the types of functions that are considered events. It is important to say that, being an event planner is no easy job and can require evenings, late nights, weekends, and holidays. Because you will be contacting other businesses there are going to be a lot of work to be done during what are considered core business hours. The amount of time, and when, you have to commit will be based on your specialty and type of event. Social events generally will require more nights, weekends, holidays, and even seasonal functions depend on their area of expertise.
Event planners are the go-to professionals when there is a lack of time or knowledge of how to successful organize and plan a particular event. Individual planners can step right in and give the event the attention it deserves. Large businesses and corporations call on even planners to produce a variety of events – fundraisers, black tie galas, golf tournaments to trade shows with thousands of attendees – that are organized each year. Depending on the event like, conventions can run over a period of days and require close attention to detail, organization and coordination of the convention logistics.

While many event planners specialize in one or two events styles, especially those who are self-employed. Regular tasks event planners perform depend on a couple of factors, including the type, size and location of event. The level of experience also determines event planners’ duties. For example entry-level planners may focus solely on logistics, while more senior planners may coordinate all the resources needed to carry out an event. The duties are usually broken up into the following steps:

Research: Planners must conduct required research, establish expected outcomes and produce outline of the event (including attendees, participants and/or contributors). This is when the logistics and organizational needs are identified along with the necessary resources required to successfully produce the final event.

Design: Coordinators visualize and make evaluations of the scale needed to meet the goals and determine the elements that will supply the characteristics of the desired event.

Organization: This phase may include locating a site or venue, catering, decorations, entertainment, travel arrangements and other accommodations.

Supervision: Vendors and others will need to be coordinated and supervised by the planner. The event planner will be the point-of-contact.

Evaluation: This involves answering the questions regarding the delivery of the final production. The planner will evaluate the good aspects and items that may need a little fine tuning to ensure the smooth run of future events. Don’t forget this is also where client feedback will be presented.

In short an even planner coordinates the logistical and operational aspects of events and meetings. When working with a public celebrations and private affairs, professional event planners manage each phase of the experience.

~ Here’s to a solid foundation for your new business.

Word of Mouth Events & Planning

Whether your guests are competitive and want to see who can achieve the longest drive on our virtual golf simulator, or want to relax and shoot a game of pool, sports bars and game rooms are ideal for accomplishing both. Our vast inventory of immaculate games varies from old school favorites to virtual simulators. We have games to fit any theme and budget! Add games to your next hospitality suite or reception to take your event to the next level.

Take the strawberries and dip 3/4 way into chocolate sauce. Take your piping bag or a zip lock with the corner tip cut and pipe white thick frosting for the football design… love these.

Word of Mouth Events & Planning

Whether your guests are competitive and want to see who can achieve the longest drive on our virtual golf simulator, or want to relax and shoot a game of pool, sports bars and game rooms are ideal for accomplishing both. Our vast inventory of immaculate games varies from old school favorites to virtual simulators. We have games to fit any theme and budget! Add games to your next hospitality suite or reception to take your event to the next level.

There are two markets for events, corporate and social. Corporate can also include charities and nonprofit organizations. Because these entities seek to increase their visibility they utilize special events to increase their consumers and contributors.

Whether your guests are competitive and want to see who can achieve the longest drive on our virtual golf simulator, or want to relax and shoot a game of pool, sports bars and game rooms are ideal for accomplishing both. Our vast inventory of immaculate games varies from old school favorites to virtual simulators. We have games to fit any theme and budget! Add games to your next hospitality suite or reception to take your event to the next level.

If you read our post ‘What is Event Planning?’ you now have an idea of what an event is and a short list of the types of functions that are considered events. It is important to say that, being an event planner is no easy job and can require evenings, late nights, weekends, and holidays. Because you will be contacting other businesses there are going to be a lot of work to be done during what are considered core business hours. The amount of time, and when, you have to commit will be based on your specialty and type of event.

Whether your guests are competitive and want to see who can achieve the longest drive on our virtual golf simulator, or want to relax and shoot a game of pool, sports bars and game rooms are ideal for accomplishing both. Our vast inventory of immaculate games varies from old school favorites to virtual simulators. We have games to fit any theme and budget! Add games to your next hospitality suite or reception to take your event to the next level.

Marketing and promoting your event is vital to the success of your meeting or event and should be taken seriously. Your marketing should show the potential attendees why they need to attend and WIIM (What’s In It For Me), what they will get from your meeting or event.

Your marketing and promotions should be in line with your goals and objectives. If done right promoting will be easy. Here you need to demonstrate to the vendors, sponsors, donors, decision makers, and attendees that you have an event/meeting people want to attend.

Get attention with your marketing, pull from your goals/objectives and spark the interest of your target audience and guide them to how they can attend – make it easy. Define your marketing message.

There’s nothing like attending a boring meeting and finding out it is boring when you get there; so you should pay careful attention making sure the attendees know what they are going to get out of this meeting. Even if it’s a mandatory meeting you should still focus on goals and objectives, get them to buy-in and build excitement. This can only lead to a more successful meeting or event.

Join Word of Mouth Events & Planning on Facebook for all your event and meeting planning needs and post your events here too. We have given you our best information to make any event or meeting a success; follow our blog.

With the percentage of event guests requesting special meals more than doubling over the last 10 years, caterers are turning to a variety of strategies to keep clients happy while holding the line on margins.

MAKING DISHES DO DOUBLE DUTY

To keep costs under control, we will often try and design the special meal option to be served with that same starch and vegetables we are serving with the regular meal.

We also try and design our special options to cover a number of the above listed special requests. For example: If the regular entree was beef tenderloin with a port jus with grilled vegetables and rosemary roasted potatoes, we could substitute our vegan roasted vegetable and heirloom bean terrine for the beef tenderloin and port jus, serving it with the grilled vegetables and potatoes. Providing we just used olive oil on the potatoes and vegetables and no garlic or onion, this dish would be suitable for lactose intolerance, gluten-free, vegan, nut and seafood allergies, Jewish and Muslim.

Example: Special meal options for an event for 730 guests that we just catered:

Served with the same starch and vegetables as the regular entree (Short Rib Provençal): Gâteau De Pommes Du TerreSmashed young red potatoes, olive oil and parsleyLegumes du Jour Pas De BeurreFresh seasonal vegetables tossed in fresh herbs and olive oil